


Docks

by VenomQuill



Series: Undertale [9]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Melancholy, Mentions of genocide, Ocean, True Pacifist, Undertale Monsters on the Surface
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 09:27:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20486609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenomQuill/pseuds/VenomQuill
Summary: It's been almost a year since Frisk fell Underground and helped break the barrier. Monsters are running free. Toriel runs a school, Asgore works as the landscaper, Undyne is the Gym teacher, Papyrus assists her, but runs a 3 star Italian restaurant, Dr. Alphys teaches and writes anime reviews, and Sans runs a hotdog stand (As far as they can tell). Everything is right with both monsters and humans....so why do they still feel sowrong?





	Docks

**Author's Note:**

> Find it on dA: http://fav.me/ddfcqku

Frisk kicked their feet, their dark brown eyes scanning the ocean. On occasion, the waves would roll high and touch the tips of their well-worn shoes. It was quiet, with only the obnoxious cawing of seagulls and whooshing waves. Although they could hear the far-off screams and laughs and calls of human and monster alike, they had faded into white noise in the distance. With the beach here so clogged with sharp stones and wild flora, annoying lacking appropriate shade, and the fear of sea snakes, crabs, octopi, and other strange and fear-inducing creatures wandering the shore, few ever went there.

Frisk’s shadow flickered and from it the spectral shape of their friend emerged and condensed beside them. They, too, watched the waves, though their sharp scarlet eyes never gained that far-off look.

After a few moments, Chara stated, “Mom told us she was picking you up for ice cream. If you ignore her again, that will be the fourth time this week. As it is Wednesday afternoon, that will be more frequent than your last few times and it will begin to worry her.”

“…yeah.”

“If you are that upset, you should confront her.”

Frisk’s gaze broke from the waves to meet Chara’s. “Yeah. Confront her. How would I do that? ‘Oh, hey, Mom! Yeah, sure, can I get a cookie dough ice cream? By way, wanna talk about how I mercilessly killed you? Like, twice?’”

“Sans is right. Sarcasm is not funny.”

Frisk scoffed and looked ahead again. “Sarcasm isn’t funny. Yeah, he’d know about jokes, alright.”

“He is your friend.”

“You wanna bet?” Frisk raised their eyebrow. “After all, I cut through his chest like a stick through sand. Let’s not forget I laughed over it _while he was still alive._”

“That was not you. That was LOVE.”

“Yeah? And who gained that LOVE, huh? That’s right, me.” Frisk puffed and glared at the ocean.

Silence spanned between the two.

“…so, is this how you felt?” Frisk finally broke the silence.

“I killed no one. While our plan was beginning to fail and I–”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what _do_ you mean?”

“Empty. I gave you–_sold_ you my SOUL. So, you have it and I don’t.”

“Not necessarily,” Chara replied. “What you are feeling now is regret and self-loathing. You still have a SOUL in your body. I just own it.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Frisk looked back at them with a puzzled expression.

“Hmm… how can I explain…?” Chara looked at their fingers for a while before meeting Frisk’s gaze again. “Alright. You know how Mom runs the school.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it does not belong to her,” Chara stated. “Technically, she is in charge of it. She makes rules and hires people and helps organize fund raisers. But the government owns the education system. If the government wished, they could evict her and shut down her school. Think of it like this: you run your body, you decide what happens to your SOUL, and you keep your SOUL inside your body. But at any point in time, I can evict you. I ultimately decide what happens to it. To the point where, if I so chose, I can destroy it. Or, I can take possession of it and manipulate its holder–in that case, you. Does that make sense?”

“Your analogies are creepy,” Frisk stated and then shrugged. “But, yeah. Sorta. So, when do you think you’ll evict my SOUL?”

“I do not imagine I will,” Chara confessed. “If you want to RESET and kill everyone I know and love–whom we both know and love–then that is your decision. If you want to live the rest of your life happy, that’s your decision. But, just like in the Underground, I have the ability to destroy your SOUL and take you back to your last SAVE point.”

“When was my last SAVE point?”

“Three months ago.”

“Cool.” Frisk looked to the ocean again. “So, why do I feel empty, then?”

“Regret,” Chara stated simply. “I do empathize with you on that. You feel regret for your decisions, and you feel unworthy of their love. You ran Toriel through with a knife. You broke Papyrus with a single punch. You cut Undyne down with a swift kick. You destroyed Mettaton’s vulnerable robotic body with a gun. You cut through Sans’ body with my knife. And then… with your bitter encouragement, I destroyed Flowey.” They paused. “But the first time, when you aimed at Papyrus, ready to strike… you didn’t.”

“Well, I admired him. He showed me love and compassion and he believed in me.” Frisk’s gaze dropped their lap. “I don’t deserve it. I never have, and I never will. But he did. The second time I decided to kill everyone, I didn’t hesitate.”

Chara nodded and looked down at the waves. “I understand. Do you know who else understands?”

“Flowey.”

“Yes, but someone else. Someone else knows what it is like to kill innocent people. Now, to your extent? Not so much. Just… innocent people.”

Frisk’s eyebrows contracted. “You mean… well… oh. You mean Dad, don’t you? But he had a reason, a good reason. He was doing what was best for his kingdom. I mean, killing six innocent children isn’t justifiable, but he did it. He didn’t do it because he was sadistic or curious or confused like me or like Flowey. What he did was unforgivable, but he never possessed–nor could he possess–the same heartlessness Flowey and I had.”

“Quite.” Chara nodded. “Dad is a good man. He is also there for you. Even if he cannot fully empathize with you–even if you think it is a rather bad idea trying to explain the timelines–he is there. Flowey is not the best at advice, I will admit. He never was, not even as Asriel. But he is there, too. Just… do it–”

“–in secret,” Frisk finished. “Yeah, I know. He is so prideful and stubborn. Heh.” Their slight smile faded. “Chara? What was it like? Back when… you and Asriel…”

“Well, it was charged with emotion,” Chara answered simply. “I was so emotional. We both were. There was just so much emotion. I do not know how else to describe it. There was fear and there was definitely guilt and pain. My painful death was over, so I no longer felt that. But both of us together felt those wounds that the humans inflicted.

“As they… swarmed and attacked, as they threw insult after terror and anger-induced insult, I myself got mad. I was already bitter toward humanity. I still loved Asriel. He was my best friend, my brother. It is funny, actually. We had a plan. But as soon as that first accusatory shout was thrown, and weapons bared, it flew away. We were both lost and confused. But Asriel stayed the better person. I was hurt and scared while Asriel was dying. Instead of taking more human SOULs like we had originally planned–the only thing we still remembered, honestly–Asriel fled. He wanted a proper burial for me. He did not want to hurt anyone. I wanted to hurt them, though.

“As they fought my pacifistic brother with everything they had, this hatred came back with a fervor. This hatred I had from every wrong-doing inflicted upon me, every bit of pain and terror and negativity thrown at me, I let my hatred take control. I was no longer myself. I wanted to kill them. All of them. Had Asriel not stopped me, I would have. I would have killed more than six people. But Asriel? He did not have that hatred in his heart. All he knew were people who loved him. He was a better person than I ever was. Despite wanting to be a good person, I just did not have it in me as pure as him.”

Chara sighed. “If I regret anything in my life, it is not running away from home. It is not stabbing my mother’s newest abusive boyfriend in the shin and abandoning my dying human brother. It is not losing myself retaliating against bullies whether they used physical attacks or not. What I regret the most is not living up to my brother’s image of me. The monsters? They are made of love and compassion. I had too much bitterness in my heart to truly live up to the monsters. I was not the person Asriel thought I was. How could I do that? All I could do was try. Heh. My best idea ever was to kill myself. Wonderful, is it not? Even in my most ‘noble’ hour, I managed to create destruction neither of us could have imagined.”

Frisk was quiet for a while… a long while. Chara rarely spoke more than three or four sentences at a time. They rarely spoke with emotion. But Frisk could _feel_ the waver in their voice. “…I don’t know, Chara. I like you. Pfft. Coming from me, right? Wow.” Frisk flopped back onto the weathered wood of the old fishing dock. “Mom and Dad? They still love you. Flowey still regards you highly. He might not be Asriel anymore, but he still regards you.”

Chara blinked. When they spoke, it was a perfect impression of Flowey. “‘You’re not really human, are you? No. You’re empty inside. Just like me. In fact… you’re Chara, right? We’re still inseparable after all these years. Listen, I have a plan to become all-powerful. Even more powerful than you and your stolen soul. Let’s destroy everything in this wretched world. Everyone. Everything in these worthless memories. Let’s turn ’em all to dust.’”

Frisk shut their eyes and stated in a rather poor impression of Flowey, “‘Chara. If you’re around… just living on the surface doesn’t seem so bad. Chara, I’ve said it before. Even after all this time… you’re still the only one that understands me.’”

Chara shook their head. “Then he begged for mercy. He didn’t want to die. But I did it anyway.”

“After I told you to.”

“I still did it.”

“You weren’t yourself. You said that,” Frisk pointed out.

Chara shut her eyes and mimicked Asriel. “Chara was not the greatest person. While, Frisk… you’re the type of friend I wish I’d always had.”

Frisk winced. They stared up at the scarce clouds that scuttled over the sky. “I loved my sister. She wasn’t the greatest person, but I loved her. Would I rather have you as a sibling than her? No. But are you the type of friend I wish I’d always had? Yeah.” Frisk tipped their head so they looked at Chara. “We both have things we regret, okay? We both have people who we trusted betray us, or think they betrayed us, but we still love them, anyway.” Frisk looked up at the clouds again.

After a slight paused, Frisk went on, “I was contemplating resetting, honestly. Just now, watching the waves. But… but it really is time to stop running away from my troubles, huh? I should face them.” They looked at Chara. “And you’re going to have to help me. Remember what I told you, all the way back when the monsters first ran free? When the barrier broke? Yeah. I want you to be where you belong and think you belong. Chara, do you think you belong here? On the surface? With us? With me?”

Chara didn’t look away from the sky. For a long time, there was silence. Then, in the quietest voice Frisk could imagine, they said, “Yes.”

Frisk smiled and sat up. “Come on, then! Let’s go get some ice cream and hot cocoa and see which one gets us first!”

“Frisk, no!” Chara jumped up, but Frisk was already running. “If you give yourself–and thus me–third degree burns and a brain freeze simultaneously, I’ll destroy your SOUL myself!”

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo Frisk and Chara! Chara's still a spirit and Frisk's still alive. This is basically just them... talking. And a little bit of what I think. Flowey was soulless and thus could not feel emotion. If Chara was soulless, would they not feel emotion? What if, after the geno route, Chara's "ownership" of Frisk's SOUL allowed them to start feeling again? Or, perhaps, during their journey through the Underground, Frisk rubbed off on Chara, giving them emotions. Hence the little funny or sad narration sprinkled through the story. (Legendary hero: "Leg Hero" Spider donut (after Muffet) "Don't worry. Spider didn't." Undyne Neutral Death: "Undyne's body..." Toriel neutral death (oven): "No one will use this anymore..." Asgore: "...") However, in serious fights or post-killing or during the geno route, everything is so cold and sharp. (MK at the bridge: "In my way..." SAVE points: "Determination." Pretty much every Sans dialogue)  
Heck, I fully believe Chara isn't bad. There are many points where Chara points out how bad something is, or outright tells you you're wrong, gosh diddly darn it! (Toriel (reset after killing her): "Can you spare her without fighting or talking?" Candy: "You take another. You feel like the scum of the earth." Chara: "You think you're above consequences.") Or how Chara skips through all of Flowey's dialogue... until his face turns into Asriel's and he cries in Asriel's voice, begging them not to kill him. Chara hesitates, unable to kill their own brother.
> 
> On resets... well... I think Chara might be a _little bit_ aware. Some people have made some really good points about how Chara may not remember them (like the water sausages thing in Toriel's home) But at the same time...  
"But, you and I are not the same, are we? This SOUL resonates with a strange feeling. There is a reason you continue to recreate this world. There is a reason you continue to destroy it. You. You are wracked with a perverted sentimentality. Hmm. I cannot understand these feelings anymore. Despite this. I feel obligated to suggest. Should you choose to recreate this world once more. Another path would be better suited. Now, Partner. Let us send this world back into the abyss."  
ERASE ♥ DO NOT  
"No...? Hmm... this feeling you have. This is what I spoke of. Unfortunately, regarding this... YOU MADE YOUR CHOICE LONG AGO." (jumpscare)
> 
> Sue me, but I think Chara at least remembers resets. At the VERY LEAST after you literally sell "your" SOUL to her.
> 
> I should probably do a pacifist soft reset and then pacifist again. I did a geno all the way up until Flowey, and then I did a soft reset. Everyone still "remembered" me. From anomalies like Papyrus to normies like Toriel. I got the "i'll give you some advice about fighting my brother. _don't._" and the "You look like you've seen a ghost. Do you know something I do not?" ~Toriel. So why wouldn't Chara?


End file.
